There’s no doubt about it, Hawksley Workman likes to keep busy.
In fact, he managed to pencil in some time for this interview between writing sessions for a new EP scheduled to come out by the middle of 2025 and planning his annual Christmas tour, which brings him to town on Dec. 14 for a sold-out show at Old Pelham Town Hall – also the final show in the inaugural Pelham Concert Series.
It’s a workload befitting of his adopted persona – Workman is a stage name – although there are moments, he thinks, how things could be a little less kinetic, career-wise.
“There are times where I wonder if I would have chosen a better name, if I could have been like ‘Hawksley Laysaround,’ that I could maybe have a little bit more of a break.”
That, of course, is said with tongue planted firmly in cheek.
Keeping busy by touring, writing a releasing new music is the way it must be for anyone who wants to make music their career. For the Peterborough-based musician, that means finding creative ways to make sure he can get his music into the hands of his fans. For him, this is through Patreon, a platform for content creators that helps them create music and other art and provide it directly to subscribers.
“I have a Patreon group, and they get a lot of new music that doesn't get on online,” Workman said. “I sort of really trust that. You put a song on Spotify and nine billion people couldn't give a shit. I'm releasing music almost constantly. It's just not out to the internet.”
But it’s his holiday album – Almost a Full Moon, released back in 2001 and expanded/rereleased 10 years later in 2011 as Full Moon Eleven – that began an almost Mariah Carey-like association with Christmas.
“That record has had a long life, and that I am very lucky that I get to go to it every year,” Workman said. “And honestly, I feel like when I made that Christmas record, I didn't make it for any commercial reason. I didn't have any clue that it would catch on with my fans.”
But catch on it did and now Workman brings those songs back annually for a holiday tour. Prior to the Pelham show, he has stops in Sudbury (Dec. 12) and Guelph (Dec. 13). The tour will continue after the Pelham show with stops in Tillsonburg (Dec. 18), Windsor (Dec. 19) and Sarnia (Dec. 20).
Workman is proud of the songs of Almost a Full Moon/Full Moon Eleven and looks forward to the cozy confines in Pelham as the perfect setting to perform them live.
“It's a point of pride for me that I made a legitimately artful Christmas record,” Workman said. “And to me, a nice, intimate audience is exactly the right kind of place for me to play that record so I'm quite looking forward to this kind of venue.”
Workman will eschew his normal full-band show for the Pelham show and will only be accompanied by pianist “Mr. Lonely,” aka Todd Lumley.
And when he’s not performing, he’s working on new music. Since moving to Peterborough, he has managed to connect with other musicians to write with.
“I've got a couple of people that I write with regularly – I try to write with them weekly – and they're young guys who are, you know, energetic and very interesting and very artful weird guys.”
The thrill of creating is still there as well, he added.
“I feel like the life of a creator is still exciting for me. If I leave the studio with a new song, I usually feel like it's a miracle. It's a miracle that that song didn't exist before that moment, and all it really takes to write a song is some focus, concentration and the demand on yourself to create.”
And while writing with others has filled him with a renewed vigor, it was also something he felt was almost a necessity.
“I've seen every trick I know,” Workman said. “I've heard every guitar lick and noodle that I've ever learned. Like you start to see your habitual stuff.”
Even some of Canada’s most iconic songwriters, he added, have found that they had to turn to others for help.
“I remember when Leonard Cohen started to co-write,” Workman said. ‘I think it was that Leonard still wanted to write lyrics, but he wanted to sing his lyrics over somebody else's chord progressions.”
It pays, he said, to be open during the creative process.
“Anytime that anybody is involved in a practice of any kind with very soon you realize that you're grateful for your habits, but you're also somewhat resentful of them,” Workman said. “Because your habits sometimes can railroad a possible new idea or new direction or new approach. When I work with these young people, their habits on the guitar or their habits on the piano are utterly fascinating to me.”
